Spinning-mule



' I UNITED STATES JOSEPTT VENABLES, OF BENNINGTON, VERMONT.

P TENT OFFICE.

SPlNNlNG-l VlULE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latent No. 599,813, dated Maren 1, 1898.

' Application filed August 28,1896. Serial No. 604,170. (No'modeL) I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatl, JOSEPH VENABLES, of

the village of Bennington, in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, have invented certain Improvements in Spinning- Mules, of which invention the subjoined description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, constitutes a specification.

These improvements relate to mules of the so-called Davis & Furber type and con sist in the interposition of a safety-guard between-the belt-shipping lever and the backing-off lever or with some other operative part of the backing-off apparatus, and their office is to suspend and defer the performance of the function of the belt-shifter after it has beenreleased by the-backing-off movement of the mule until the clutch which draws in the carriage has been disconnected and the .clutch which 'eifects the draft movement has been engaged. The-operationof this guardis made dependent upon'some part of the mechanism which operates the said clutches riage is moving up to the head or is backing off, as it is termed, one attachment of the carriage contacts with mechanism to operate thebelt-shifter and another separate attachment contacts with other separate mechanism to effect disengagement of the drawingin clutch'and engagement of the draft-clutch by. which the draft movement of the mule is initiated. The principal member of the latter train of mechanism or that which controls the action of these clutches is the backing-oft -lever.

To secure correct and perfect operation of the mule, the belt-shifting and the clutch movements should be as nearly simultaneous as possible; but in no case should the belt be shipped onto the driving-pulley before disengagement of the drawing-in clutch and engagement of the draft-clutch have taken place, for ifit does so .occurall the operations of the mule for spinning will be started except the drawing, and the carriage will stand still. As a result. of such conditions the drawing-rollers which will be running will deliver the roving to the spindles, which will twist it undrawn, and as a consequence spindle tops, or lumps of twisted roving will be accumulated on the tips of the spindles, to remove which a breakdown of the yarn :becomes necessary. There is no provision in mules of the class spoken of as they are now constructed for positively securing these clutch engagements concurrently with The view is as seen fromthe right-hand end of" the mule. Fig. 2 is a partial front elevation of the head. Fig. 3 is a plan View of the parts seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevation of a lever which is attached to thecarriage and is placed under the'control of a hand-shipper to stop and start the :mule at will.

A part of the frame of the head is seen in the uprights 1 1 andcross-girt 2. The main driving-shaft is seen at 3, and the pulley which does the spinning and drives the carriage out is shown at 4, while the backing-off pulley is shown at 5. The loose pulley is 6. The belt-shipping lever is shown at 26, and has an arm d, which extends to the belts, another, e, to which is attached a retractile spring which acts to throw the shipper from left to .right,.and another, 0, which by means of my improvement cooperates with the backing-olf lever 23. The backing-off lever is shown at 23 and consists of the two arms 23 and 23*, which extend in opposite directions from the fulcrum-shaft 42, to which it is firmly bolted. A third arm 23 extends to the rear and acts as a shipping-fork to operate the drawing-in clutch 41. From the under side of arm 23 depends a lug 44, with which the I locking-lever 43 engages. The horizontal arm of lever 43 is notched tohold the lug 44 when the arm 23? is thrown toward the head.. The bar 61 on the carriage unlocks this lever when the carriage moves up against it. On the outer end of arm 23 is an adjustable lug 45, with which the arm 18 of the draft-clutch fork 15 coacts. To this arm a spring 54 is connected, which acts when the fork is released to throw the sliding member 13 of the draft-clutch into engagement with the fixed member 12. The spring 51 connects the backing-off lever with the latch-rod by means of the bracket 21 When the backing-off lever is released, the spring acts to draw arm 23 back until it strikes the stop-lug 91, which is provided for that purpose.

As my invention may be carried out in innumerable ways, I have shown in this case a only two modifications of the same, both of which operate on identically the same principle; but I do not confine myself to any particular embodiment of it in specially-constructed mechanism, but claim all devices,

1 however made or applied, which operate to take control of the belt-shipping apparatus after it has been released by the drawing-in action and hold the shipping action in suspense or abeyance until it is itself released while the carriage is running in.

and equivalent provision is shown at 24,which consists inattaching an adjustable stud to the arm 23", so as to come in the path of movement of the arm 0 of the belt-shipper under the same conditions. These are only similar provisions to accomplish the same object 'by operating on opposite arms of the same lever.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Assuming the carriage to be in the act of moving toward the head, the cam 56 and the bar 61 should respectively strike the bolt 29 and lever 43 at the same instant if everything is properly adjusted. The contact of 56 with 29 will force the lever 30 back, so as to throw its bottom end out of contact with .the adjusting-clip 27, which is attached to arm 6 of the shipping-lever. WVhen such contact is broken, spring 28 will exert its tension to pull arm e upwardly, and thus tend to throw arm (1 toward the tight pulley; but if the backing ofi lever has not fully acted either arm d will strike arm and be blocked in that position, or arm a will strike lug 24 on arm 23 and be similarly blocked. Thus the belt-shipper will be restrained from further action until one or both of these obstacles is or are removed; but the moment the further advance of the carriage or of bar 61 forces the locking-lever 43 over to the point where the lower arm breaks contact with the under side of lug 44 the spring 51 will retract and,

through arm 23*", throw the drawing-in clutch out of engagement. This movement at the same time releases the end of the arm 18 of the draft-clutch 4, whereupon, and after the disengagement of the drawing-in clutch, the

spring 54 acts to throw the draft-clutch into engagement. The same movement of the backing-01f lever also throws the blocking devices 90 and 24 out of the path of movement of the shipping-lever, which is thus left free to shift the belt onto the driving-pulley 4 and thus start the machine on a new stretch. By the adoption of this safety-guard I am enabled to gear the mule to run much easier and thus avoid any recoil, which would damage the yarn, as well as leave the mule so much out of adjustment as to require assistance to start it properly again.

I therefore claim as my invention- 1. In a mule of the character described the combination with the belt-shipper and the backing- 01f lever of an interposed safetygnard adapted to block the action of the beltshipper at and during the time and for the purpose specified.

2. Thecombinationinaspinning-mulewith the draft-clutch the draft-clutch shifter, the driving-pulley and the drawing-in pulley of a belt-shipper for shipping the driving-belt from the drawing-in pulley to the drivingpulley and a belt-shipper holder for arresting and holding the belt-shipping devices until the draft-clutch engagement has been effected.

3. The combination in a spinning-mule with the drawing-in pulley, the driving-pulley and the drawing-in clutch, of a belt-shipper for shipping from the drawing-in pulley to the driving-pulley, means for effecting disengagement of the drawing-in clutch and a belt-shipper-holding device interposed between the belt-shipper and the means for disengaging the drawing-in clutch, adapted to arrest and hold the belt-shipper until said disengagement has been efiected.

4. The combinationin aspinning-mule with the draft-clutch the drawing-in clutch, the driving-pulley and the drawing-in pulley, of a belt-shifter for throwing the belt from the drawing-in to the driving pulley, a shifter for disengaging the drawing-in clutch, a shifter for engaging the draft-clutch, and a belt-shipper holder interposed between the belt-shipper and the said clutches for arresting and holding the belt-shipper pending the completion of the several clutch actions preparatory to entering upon a new stretch.

In testimony whereof I have hereto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH VENABLES.

Witnesses:

FRANKLIN Scor'r, EMILY Soorr. 

